Behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism are the three broad learning theories most often utilized in the creation of instructional environments. These theories, however, were developed in a time when learning was not impacted through technology. Over the last twenty years, technology has reorganized how we live, how we communicate, and how we learn. Learning needs and theories that describe learning principles and processes, should be reflective of underlying social environments. Vaill emphasizes that “learning must be a way of being – an ongoing set of attitudes and actions by individuals and groups that they employ to try to keep abreast o the surprising, novel, messy, obtrusive, recurring events…” (1996, p.42)."

In a comment on yesterday’s post, Burks Oakley, the Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs at the University of Illinois, pointed out that in his latest podcast produced for his Burks on Learning blog, he did something of a showcase or review of my iGeneration course, focusing on its use of blogs and podcasting. "

James pointed out today that Higher Ed Blog Con is well under way. All the papers and talks are being posted online throughout April and there are some fantastic things coming up. The first day had a great talk from Mark E. Ott called “Giving the students what they want: Short, to-the-point e-lectures” which compares screencasts and podcasts and looks at the utlity of both (the paper also led me to Mark’s really interested educational technology blog “My Educational Diatribe” which I shall be reading from now on.)

Also of great interest given my podcasting inclinations was a talk by Colette Vogele and Elizabeth Townsend Gard entitled “Legal issues in podcasting the traditional classroom“. Their abstract:

Colette Vogele and Elizabeth Townsend Gard will explore the legal aspects of podcasting in teaching and higher education. Colette is the author of the new Podcasting Legal Guide (soon to be available at Creative Commons and the Center for Internet and Society) and Elizabeth focuses her research on copyright in an academic environment. Colette will explain legal basics surrounding podcasting, and Elizabeth will focus on the higher education environment, particularly podcasting the traditional classroom. The presentation will address copyright, trademark, and right of publicity/privacy questions that arise in the context of podcasting in the teaching scenario. Copyright questions have to do primarily with third-party materials that are used in the podcast, and the rights under which the podcasting teacher wishes to distribute her content. Traditional licensing, Creative Commons licensing, and public domain dedications would be addressed. Questions about ownership of the podcast content (e.g., the institution vs. the teacher?) would also be discussed. Elizabeth will focus the second part on “What questions should we ask when we podcast the traditional classroom?” This will look at at the specifics of Section 110 of the Copyright Act , which includes both exceptions to using copyrighted materials in the traditional face-to-face classroom teaching and the additional recent exceptions added with the TEACH Act. How does podcasting change classroom choices? What choices do podcasters have when podcasting the classroom? This part will also look at the additional issues of ownership of the podcasted lecture and student work that is podcasted.

You can download the entire presentation (with both .mov files and the powerpoint slides) and I recommend you do as the two offer a great primer on thinking through the legalities of podcasting in academia."

About Me

I am an instructor and education consultant. I am interested in open education resources, open textbooks, online teaching and learning, course development, and Connectivism. I have also taught English at all levels both face-to-face and online.